To Bee Allergic
Ellena was a worker bee. Her life was just like that of other worker bees until the first day she went outside.
At first the sunlight felt blinding to her faceted eyes after spending 12 days in the darkness of the hive, but her eyes soon adjusted. She gave her wings an experimental flap and felt their force lift the weight from her feet a little. As her fellow bees took off around her she tapped the floor with her feet for a few seconds, building up courage for that first flight.
She flapped her wings hard and felt her feet leave the ground. She was flying!
She revelled in the feeling for a few moments before following her fellow bees in the orientation. This consisted of hovering while facing the entrance of the hive and then performing a series of arcs and zigzags to build a mental map of the area.
Once this was done Ellena went back inside with the other initiates for a short rest before doing another orientation flight, this time going out farther than before. This process was repeated a few more times until they reached the hive’s primary foraging grounds, a meadow.
Following the example of the other bees, she flew down to a flower to collect her first load of pollen. As she hovered down for the final landing, a little pollen dust flew into her face. She sneezed. Then she sneezed again. Her wings began to spasm with each sneeze as tried to wipe the dust away with her front legs.
Other bees noticed her erratic flight and flew over to check on her.
“Are you alright?” one asked.
“What happened?” asked another.
“I don’t know. I was landing on the flower when some pollen flew in face and I started- Achoo! Sneezing.”
The bees were mystified by this and the eldest bee advised Ellena to fly back to the hive for a rest. She flew back without incident, but upon landing back at the hive she bumped her face into the pollen pocket of another bee. This set off another sneezing fit. Ellena, embarrassed and scared, fled to the comb where she had hatched, and stayed there through the night.
The next day, her friend approached her.
“Are you coming for orientation flights today?” She asked with a tinge of concern.
“I can’t go out there, there’s pollen.” Ellena said.
“There’s pollen everywhere.”
“But I’ve never had a reaction to it until yesterday. I can eat bee bread without a problem but for some reason plain pollen on my face makes me sneeze uncontrollably.”
“You should go to the queen and ask her what to do. She’s been alive through 8 generations of worker bees so she has probably seen this before. Maybe there’s a simple solution.”
Ellena wasn’t as sure as her friend sounded, but she decided to follow her advice anyway.
She had seen the queen in the brood chamber everyday but had never approached her. Now she did so with tentative steps. Other workers surrounded the queen as she performed her primary royal duty, laying eggs.
“Excuse me, may I speak with her highness? There is a matter of importance that she will want to address.” Ellena said to one of the Queen’s retinue.
“What is the nature of this matter?” She asked.
“Pollen on my face makes me sneeze uncontrollably. I wish to ask the queen if she knows a solution to this problem.”
“Pollen makes you sneeze? But you eat it.”
“In bee bread yes, but never raw. For some reason plain pollen on my face makes me sneeze and spasm. It’s dreadfully uncomfortable and I don’t know of any other workers with such a problem.”
“I will pass your request for an audience along. Follow behind me. The queen must continue her royal duty and we must continue attending her while any audience occurs.”
“Of course. I understand. Thank you.”
The word of this unfortunate bee’s plight reached the queen quickly and she called for Ellena to come near. Ellena approached the larger bee with a mixture of reverence and awe. She had never been so close to the mother of the hive. The queen was all business.
“You are allergic to raw pollen?” She asked.
“It makes me sneeze and causes my body to spasm so much I can barely fly.”
“We need the work of every bee. If you can’t collect pollen, you will tend the baby cells.”
Ellena was a little stunned by this response,
“Thank you your highness, may I ask you one more thing?”
“Yes, but be quick young one.”
“Have any workers of previous generations you mothered had a problem like mine?”
“No. You are the first. But it doesn’t matter. You are a worker bee. If you are unable to fulfill your duty by collecting pollen from the foraging grounds, then you will fulfill your duty by tending the next generation. Return to your work.”
“Yes your highness.” Ellena scurried away. Feelings of sadness and joy welled up in her at the same time. She wouldn’t get to go out and fly with her friends to the foraging grounds, but she would get to help ensure the next generation of worker bees hatched.
And she wouldn’t have to be near any more of that awful pollen.